INDIANAPOLIS (May 22, 2019) — Gen Con, the largest and longest-running tabletop gaming convention in North America, announces Monte Cook and Shanna Germain as Gen Con 2019 Industry Guests of Honor. Each will host a seminar event during this year’s convention, and both will participate in an “Uncommon Conversation” main stage speaking event moderated by veteran game designer Tyler Bielman.

“We’re very excited to present our Industry Guests of Honor for Gen Con 2019,” said Jeannette LeGault, Gen Con’s Senior Director of Event Programming. “Monte and Shanna have years of experience and influence in the tabletop gaming industry, and we’re honored to host them on our stage to share their knowledge and insight with attendees.”

All three Industry Guest of Honor events will be streamed live on Gen Con’s Twitch channel during the convention, and posted afterward on YouTube for on-demand viewing.

Gen Con returns to Indianapolis August 1-4, 2019.

About Gen Con

Gen Con is the largest and longest-running annual event devoted to tabletop gaming culture in North America. The convention, which began in 1968 in Lake Geneva, WI, attracts 70,000 attendees and 520 exhibiting companies each year. During the convention, attendees choose from 17,000 ticketed events representing a wide array of board games, card games, roleplaying games, seminars, entertainment events, and more. Gen Con takes place each August in the Indiana Convention Center, Lucas Oil Stadium, and surrounding downtown hotel spaces in Indianapolis, IN.

About Monte Cook

Over his 30-year career, Monte Cook has written hundreds of roleplaying game products, along with numerous short stories, novels, nonfiction titles, and comic books. Best known for his work on such notable titles as Planescape, the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons (co-designed with Jonathan Tweet and Skip Williams), Numenera, the Cypher System, and Invisible Sun, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Monte currently works as Creative Director of Monte Cook Games. More information can be found at montecookgames.com.

About Shanna Germain

Shanna Germain’s award-winning body of work encompasses stories, games, poems, and essays, about lust, lies, and leviathans. Her best-known work includes Predation, No Thank You, Evil!, As Kinky as You Wanna Be, The Lure of Dangerous Women, and The Poison Eater. The co-owner of Monte Cook Games, she's currently hard at work on a fantasy novel about drunken gods and sticky notes, a roleplaying game about fairy tales and madness, and a cookie recipe that she hopes will bring all the puppies to her yard. More information can be found at shannagermain.com.